i mean, there is a kind of psychology do this economy. if people are feeling gloomy and afraid, they're not going to go out and spend. so the fact that people are feeling -- by the way, i don't want to overemphasize this because, you know, these numbers on consumer confidence, as you know, they bump up and down. but i think right now people just feeling a little bit better. but it does go back to that issue of the fiscal cliff. you notice what's happened on the stock market. every time it looks like they're going to get around this problem, the stock market booms. every time the negotiations stall, the stock market loses value. so everybody's going to be paying very close attention to this. rick: how optimistic are you, steve, on the chances of a deal on the fiscal cliff, and if there is a deal, what could that mean for the economy as a whole? >> well, you know, i think at the optimal outcome is not to raise taxes on anybody. i do think that if the president has his way and those taxes go up on investors and businesses, it's hard to see w